HEISTS, SUPER-HEROES, & SUPER-CRIMINALS [A-L]
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3 DEV ADAM (1973) Also known as: "Three Mighty Men." Violent and bizarre Turkish superhero/supercriminal flick. Istanbul is being terrorized by a crime wave. Spiderman is on the loose again, killing people with his switchblade knife. The police call in American superhero Captain America and Mexican wrestler Santo to put a stop to it. Directed by T. Fikret Ucak. Dubbed in Turkish, with no subtitles. (B/B-).
28 MINUTES FOR THREE MILLION DOLLARS (1967) Great heist/caper film from director Maurizio Pradeaux. Four high-tech thieves (headed by Richard Harrison) attempt to rob a priceless diamond from a heavily-guarded palace. They have only twenty-eight minutes to bust in and grab the jewel. Also starring Franca Polesello, Claudo Biava, Erna Schurer, Ferruccio Viotti, Marino Carpano, and others. Straight from Greek pre-record. Dubbed in English, with Greek subtitles. (A/A-).
AMAZONS VS. SUPERMEN (1975) Original title: "Superuomini, Superdonne, Superbotte." Alfonso Brescia directs this slapstick mayhem. Three men with supernatural powers interfere in a tribal warfare to prevent evil Amazons destroying the inhabitants of a village. This UNCUT Italian-language print features more violence than the English versions. Stars Nick Jordan, Malisa Longo, Magda Kanopka, and others. Dubbed in Italian, with no subtitles. (A-/B). *Also available in English.
ARGOMAN (1967) Original title: "Come Rubare la Cornoa D'Inghilterra." Costume super-hero adventure starring Roger Browne, Dominique Boschero, Nadia Marlowa, Andrea Bosic, Eduardo Fajardo, Daria De Grassi, Tom Felleghy, Mimmo Palmara, Lawrence Mills, and others. Directed by Sergio Grieco. English and French versions are available. Dubbed in English, with no subtitles. (A-/B). Dubbed in French, with no subtitles. (A-/B).
AVENGER X (1966) Mister X, a veteran thief and master of disguise, comes out of hiding to the avenge the death of his girlfriend by an evil crime lord. Starring Giancarlo Prete, Franco Fantasia, Helga Line, Pier Paolo Capponi, and other Euro regulars. Directed by Piero Vivarelli. Dubbed in English, with no subtitles. (A-/B).
BATWOMAN (1968) Original title: "La Mujer Murcielago." A mad scientist desires to create a race of supermen. He uses the glands of wrestlers because they are "perfect". When wrestlers start winding up dead all over Acapulco, the call goes out for that mysterious crime fighter BATWOMAN! Rene Cardona directs this entirely wacked-out Mexican entry starring Maura Monti, Roberto Canedo, Crox Alvarado, and others. Dubbed in Spanish, with English subtitles. (A-/B).
DEATH RAY MIRROR OF DR. MABUSE, THE (1964) Internationally produced thriller features several great performers in nonstop action intrigue. The evil Dr. Mabuse (Wolfgang Preiss) develops a death ray with which he threatens the world, and plans to bring about WWIII. Also stars Peter Van Eyck, Yvonne Furneaux, Claudio Gora, Dieter Eppler, and others. Directed by Hugo Fregonese. Dubbed in English. (A-/B).
DEVIL'S MAN, THE (1967) Also known as: "Devilman Story." Masked super-criminal fun from Italy. Guy Madison plays an ace newspaper reporter who traces missing scientist to secret organization headed by Devilman, a masked criminal conducting brain research in a remote laboratory. Also stars Luisa Baratto, Diana Lorys, Luciano Pigozzi, Bill Vanders, and others. Directed by Paolo Bianchini. Dubbed in English. Fair quality only. (B-/C).
DIAMONDS ARE A MAN'S BEST FRIEND (1966) Original title: "Ray Master, L'Inafferrabile." Extraordinarily rare English-language print of this heist action caper from director Vittorio Sala. A celebrated thief robs a princess of a precious diamond. However, it soon appears that he's stolen the wrong one. So he heads to Bangkok, where he engineers a massive heist with the aid of high-tech equipment. At the same time, however, a crime lord hires lovely female to keep her eye on the jewel-thief, as he has his own plans for the diamond. Swingin' 60's fun starring Felix Martin, Gastone Moschin, Luciano Pigozzi, Seyna Seyn, Liana Orfei, and others. Straight from Greek pre-record. Dubbed in English, with Greek subtitles. (A/A-).
DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE GIRL BOMBS (1966)
DR. ORLOFF'S MONSTER (1964) Also known as: "The Secret of Dr. Orloff." A mad scientist creates a hideous monster to carry out his murderous plans. Hugo Blanco, Agnes Spaak, Perla Cristal, and others. Directed by Jess Franco. Dubbed in English. (A-/B).
EVERY MAN IS MY ENEMY (1967) Robert Webber stars as a professional jewel thief who witnesses his brother get killed during a police shootout. While thinking of calling it quits, he nevertheless decides to go on one last job before he retires. He and a few others plan out an elaborate scheme whereby they break into an office complex to rob a safe. However, he is double-crossed by a close friend, and the cops close in on him. Elsa Martinelli, Jean Servais, Mrina Berti, and Umberto Raho, also star in this great '60's crime fizzler. Directed by Franco Prosperi. Dubbed in English. (A-/B).
FANTOMAS (1932) Rare early version of the classic tale. The Marquise de Langrune invites her friends at her castle in Beaulieu. Among them is Lord Beltham who also came to bring her a significant sum of money. The mysterious Fantômas kills the Marquise during the night. Inspector Juve is sent on his trail. Starring Thomy Bourdelle, Tania Fedor, Georges Rigaud, and others. Directed by Pal Fejos. Dubbed in French, with English subtitles. (A/A-).
FANTOMAS (1964) Criminal mastermind Fantômas, a man of a thousand faces, is unhappy with Fandor, a journalist whose written a fictive interview of him. He kidnaps Fandor, threatens to kill him, but first goes about ruining the journalist's reputation by committing a sensational crime in Fandor's guise. Hot on the trail is police Commissaire Juve, so Fantômas commits a crime looking like him. Soon, our intrepid heroes, Fandor and Juve, with the help of Fandor's girlfriend Hélène, are on the mastermind's trail, but who's in control? Stars Jean Marais, Louis De Funes, Mylene Demongeot. Directed by Andre Hunebelle. Dubbed in French, with English subtitles. (A-/B).
FANTOMAS AGAINST SCOTLAND YARD (1967) Third and final entry in the French "Fantomas" series. Fantomas wants to collect money from the rich in exchange for letting them live. The French inspector (Louis de Funes) comes to a Scottish castle to protect its owner, and to catch Fantomas. But there's trouble at the castle, especially during one big evening party. Also starring Jean Marais, Mylene Demongeot, and others. Directed by Andre Hunebelle. Dubbed in French, with English subtitles. (A-/B).
FANTOMAS STRIKES BACK (1965) This episode is definitely the more entertaining of the series starring Louis de Funès and Jean Marais. After the exciting "Fantômas" and before a weird #3 where the evil genius becomes a base racketeer who occasionally kills a lord of a Scottish manor, Fantômas se déchaîne is well packed with action and fun. The directing is not so good as for North by northwest, a movie with the same tempo and fun to a too serious-acting. But it uses advisedly the James Bond toolkit. De Funès and Jean Marais are perfect to make the whole thing work throughout that good model of what was popular French cinema in the 60s. Directed by Andre Hunebelle. Dubbed in French, with English subtitles. (A-/B).
FANTOMAS: THE DEVIL'S GRASP (1980) in French
FANTOMAS: MAGIC SCAFFOLD (1980) in French
FLASHMAN (1966) Goofy sixties superhero/spy fun with all the kitsch found in Italian films of that time. A scientist has developed an invisibility serum, but is killed by his evil assistant (Ivano Staccioli) who uses it to become a super bank robber. Meanwhile, a group of sexy secretaries are infiltrating banks and substituting counterfeit bills for real ones. And then there's Flashman, a costumed superhero (complete with British butler!) who's invincible and wears a silver and red costume. Directed by Mino Loy. Dubbed in English, with Greek subtitles. (B/B-).
FLYING SUPERBOY, THE (1976) Also known as: "Bas Belasi." Alberto Dell'Acqua stars in this rare Turkish-Italian crime flick, as an undercover cop trying to nab a mafia organization. Lots of great stunts, one of which involves Dell'Acqua being dragged along the ground at top speed. Also stars Gulsen Bubikoglu, Sadri Alisik, and others. Directed by Atif Yilmaz. Note: print contains occasional brief picture dropouts. Dubbed in English, with Dutch subtitles. (B/B-).
GIRL, SEX, AND SUPERMAN (1967) Also known as: "Fantabulous, Inc." Richard Harrison stars in this costumed superhero adventure, which also features Adolfo Celi, Judi West, Silvio Bagolini, Enzo Fiermonte, and other Euro performers. Directed by Sergio Spina. Letterboxed. Dubbed in Italian, with no subtitles. (A-/B).
GOLDFACE, THE FANTASTIC SUPERMAN (1968) Bitto Albertini directs this costume superhero adventure. Masked hero/wrestler takes on "The Cobra," a criminal crackpot with schemes for world domination. Stars Espartaco Santoni, Evi Marandi, Big Matthews, Leontine May, Micaela Pignatelli, and others. Dubbed in English. (B/B-).
HYPNOS: FOLLIA PER UN MASSACRO (1967) Also known as: "Massacre Mania." Nice-looking print of this 60's supercriminal action thriller from director Paolo Bianchini. Robert Woods plays a psychiatrist who comes to investigate a string of murders. He finds that these are connected to subliminal television signals formulated by a criminal mastermind. Also starring Giovanni Cianfriglia, Rada Rassimov, and others. Letterboxed. Dubbed in Italian, with no subtitles. (A-/B).
INVISIBLE DR. MABUSE, THE (1962) Strange things happen in a revue theatre. The dancer Maria seems to be hunted by an invisible admirer. When the body of a probable FBI agent is found in a trunk the police asks FBI man Joe Como for help. Como gets interested in the revue theatre and an ominous transport firm soon. When he is receiving mysterious threatening letters he is sure that Dr. Mabuse has risen again. But what is going on at "Enterprise X" so that both the goverment and the mad genius in crime are interested in it? Starring Lex Barker, Karin Dor, and Wolfgang Preiss. Directed by Harald Reinl. Dubbed in English. (A-/B).
JUDEX (1963) Favraux, an unscrupulous banker, receives a threatening note, signed by "Judex", demanding that he pay back the people he has swindled. He refuses, and apparently dies after a midnight toast at his masked ball. However, he is only drugged by Judex and locked away. Judex spares his life when the banker's widowed daughter, Jacqueline, rejects the inheritance. Meanwhile Diana Monti, the former governess, kidnaps Jacqueline to try to get the banker's money. But Judex is hot on her trail. Channing Pollock, Francine Berge, and others. Directed by Georges Franju. Dubbed in French, with English subtitles. (B/B-).
KILINK IN ISTANBUL (1967) Inspired by the Italian comic strip (Fumetti) Kriminal, Turkish producers created this outrageous, and super-cool series. In this film, Kilinik (or Killing, as it is translated into English), is a master villain who wears a skeleton-bone suit topped with a skull mask. Not unlike Fantomas, he is also a master of disguise, and leads a large criminal underworld base where he plans his crimes. Cool stunts, fiery fights, and sexy damsels-in-distress all contribute to making this film of interest to serial buffs as well. Directed by Yilmaz Atadeniz. Dubbed in Turkish, with no subtitles. (A-/B).
KILINK SOY VE OLDUR
KRIMINAL (1966) English-subtitled print of this fast paced super-criminal film from director Umberto Lenzi. Glenn Saxson plays the titular character made popular by an Italian comic-strip. Police inspector chases Kriminal all over Europe as he (Kriminal) attempts to steal a priceless cache of diamonds. Also starring Helga Line, Andrea Bosic, Ivano Staccioli, and others. Letterboxed. Dubbed in Italian, with English subs. (A-/B).
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